“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” - George W. Bush

Tuesday, December 03, 2013

The 9/11 attacks worked because they caught people -- used to theatrical hijackings that didn't kill anyone -- by surprise. Once Americans figured out this new game, which took, as Todd notes, only 109 minutes, they put an end to it by themselves. The creation of the TSA didn't do any good, and it costs a lot of money, and it does a lot of harm. Put an end to it.

If people miss their flights, or give up on flying because it's a hassle, the TSA doesn't suffer.

If bombs got through, the consequence probably wouldn't be higher-ups at TSA losing their jobs.

The TSA is more about "security theater" designed to give the appearance of security.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the United States took a number of rapid actions. One was the passage of the Patriot Act, which I regarded as a mistake then, and which doesn't seem much better now. Another was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, a bureaucratic monstrosity that doesn't seem to have done much to keep us actually, you know, safer. And another was the federal takeover of aviation security by the Transportation Security Administration, which also seems to have been a bust.

There's now some talk about repealing or revising the Patriot Act, and the failure of the Department of Homeland Security to do much good seems pretty widely acknowledged. But it's widely accepted -- even by the Government Accountability Office -- that the TSA's army of unionized federal employees is no better, and perhaps worse, than private screeners.

This should come as no surprise. When, as was the case before 9/11, security screeners were contractors employed by airlines, they had every incentive to do a good job: Airlines don't want their planes hijacked or blown up. And they also had every incentive to be speedy and pleasant: Airlines don't want to irritate their customers, or to make flying an unpleasant experience in general.

Federal employees have no such incentives, and it often shows. If people miss their flights, or just give up on flying because it's too much hassle, the TSA doesn't suffer. Even if bombs or hijackers get through, the most likely consequence isn't a bunch of higher-ups at TSA losing their jobs -- when does anybody in the government get fired for failure these days? -- but rather an increased budget and more staff "to make sure this won't happen again." The incentives don't align.

Most other advanced nations use private screening services, and their security is just fine -- and, according to most accounts, less of a hassle for travelers. Some American airports, from San Francisco to Jackson Hole, are already trying out that approach. Why not take that national?

One reason, of course, is that the TSA's bloated unionized workforce will oppose it. But the TSA is also one of the most unpopular agencies with the public. What's more, as Bruce Schneier notes, it has never caught a terrorist. It's not about security, but about "security theater" designed to give the appearance of security. I think the traveling public has caught on to that, and travelers account for more votes than screeners do.

We wanted to be sure that something like 9/11 could never happen again, but as Brad Todd wrote just a few days after the attacks, that was already made sure of by the passengers' themselves on United Flight 93. As Todd wrote:

Just 109 minutes after a new form of terrorism -- the most deadly yet invented -- came into use, it was rendered, if not obsolete, at least decidedly less effective. Deconstructed, unengineered, thwarted and put into the dust bin of history. By Americans. In 109 minutes. And, in retrospect, they did it in the most American of ways. They used a credit card to rent a fancy cell phone to get information just minutes old, courtesy of the ubiquitous 24-hour news phenomenon. Then they took a vote. When the vote called for sacrifice to protect country and others, there apparently wasn't a shortage of volunteers. Their action was swift. It was decisive. And it was effective.

The 9/11 attacks worked because they caught people -- used to theatrical hijackings that didn't kill anyone -- by surprise. Once Americans figured out this new game, which took, as Todd notes, only 109 minutes, they put an end to it by themselves. The creation of the TSA didn't do any good, and it costs a lot of money, and it does a lot of harm. Put an end to it.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds is professor of law at the University of Tennessee and the author of The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself. He blogs at InstaPundit.com.

224 comments:

Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 was a commercial flight that crashed near Cayucos, California, United States, on December 7, 1987, as a result of a murder–suicide scheme by one of the passengers. All 43 people on board the aircraft died. The man who caused the crash, David Burke (born May 18, 1952), was a disgruntled former employee of USAir, the parent company of PSA.

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Burke had been recently terminated by USAir for petty theft of $69 from in-flight cocktail receipts and had also been suspected of other crimes.[2] After meeting with Raymond F. Thomson, his supervisor, in an unsuccessful attempt to be reinstated, Burke purchased a ticket on PSA Flight 1771, a daily flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Thomson was a passenger on the flight, which he regularly took for his daily commute from his workplace at LAX to his home in the San Francisco area.[3]

Using his unsurrendered USAir credentials, David Burke, armed with a loaded .44 Magnum revolver that he had borrowed from a co-worker, was able to bypass the normal security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport.[4] After boarding the plane, Burke wrote a message on an airsickness bag. It is not known if he gave the message to Thomson to read before shooting him:

"Hi Ray. I think it's sort of ironical that we ended up like this. I asked for some leniency for my family. Remember? Well, I got none and you'll get none."

As the aircraft, a four-engine British Aerospace BAe 146-200, cruised at 22,000 ft (6,700 m) over the central California coast, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recorded the sound of someone entering and then leaving the lavatory. The captain and the co-pilot were asking air traffic control about turbulence when the sound of two shots being fired in the cabin was heard on the CVR. This was probably when Burke shot Thomson to death.[7] The co-pilot immediately reported to air traffic control that a gun had been fired on board and no further transmissions were received from the crew. The CVR recorded the cockpit door opening and a female, presumed to be a flight attendant, told the cockpit crew, "We have a problem." The captain replied, "What kind of problem?" A shot was fired, presumably killing the flight attendant, and Burke announced "I'm the problem," and two more shots were heard that either incapacitated or killed the pilots. Several seconds later, the CVR picked up increasing windscreen noise as the airplane pitched down and accelerated. The remains of the flight data recorder (FDR) indicated the control column had been pushed forward, most likely by Burke, causing the aircraft to dive.

A final gunshot was heard followed not long after by a sudden silence. It is speculated that the final shot fired by Burke had killed the airline's chief pilot, who was also on board as a passenger and who may have tried to reach the cockpit to save the aircraft. According to the TV series Mayday, a fragment of Burke's fingertip was recovered with the gun which indicated that he was alive and holding the gun until impact.[8] The plane crashed into the hillside of a cattle ranch at 4:16 p.m. in the Santa Lucia Mountains near Paso Robles[9] and Cayucos, exploding on impact.

The plane was estimated to have crashed slightly faster than the speed of sound, at around 770 mph (1,240 km/h), disintegrating instantly. It is estimated that the aircraft hit the ground at five thousand times the force of gravity, and was traveling at an approximately 70-degree angle toward the south. The plane struck a rocky hillside, leaving a crater less than 2 feet deep and 4 feet across, presumably where the landing gear struck the ground. The high-speed impact compressed the soil, which almost immediately rebounded, throwing fragments and paper (including the note by Burke) back into the air, before flames consumed them.

No one survived the crash; the force of impact meant that human remains were very small, the largest being feet in shoes. The remains of 27 passengers were never identified.

Pieces of the Aluminum hull were much smaller than a human foot:

Most were less than 4 inches across, and flew up in a cloud, then settled over a large area.

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Was about 5 miles from our farm, as the crow flies.

(unless prevented from flying by the TSA for the protection of other birds and carrion.)

"The perpetrator, David Burke, was born May 18, 1952 to Jamaican parents living in Britain. Burke later emigrated to the United States with his parents. He had previously worked for an airline in Rochester, New York, where he was a suspect in a drug-smuggling ring that was bringing cocaine from Jamaica to Rochester via the airline. He was never officially charged and reportedly relocated to Los Angeles to avoid future suspicions.[2][10]

Some former girlfriends, neighbors, and law enforcement officials described him as a violent man before Flight 1771.[11]

Women of the Wall (WoW) claimed victory in a groundbreaking legal ruling earlier this year, when the Jerusalem District Court upheld an earlier decision by the local magistrate’s court that women who wore prayer shawls (“tallitot” in Hebrew) at the Western Wall Plaza were not contravening “local custom” or causing a public disturbance, and therefore should not be arrested.

Imagine that. Women praying at the wall don't get arrested anymore, in a "groundbreaking legal ruling".

Rufus:Think about it - the middle of the night, incoming, Charlie's coming through the wire, and you're shitting your pants, in the dark, , with mortar going off around you, people screaming with hot shrapnel in their gut, and you're fucking with a combination lock? Severely deranged.

What do you know, Rufus, you were just a jarhead sloggin in the shit. Allen read it in Jerry Kuhnhausen's classic Shop Manual (available from Fulton Armory; see the M1 Rifle Parts & Accessories or M14 Rifle Parts and Accessories Pages under Books).

Teresita RedingerTue Dec 03, 09:20:00 AM ESTRufus: Think about it - the middle of the night, incoming, Charlie's coming through the wire, and you're shitting your pants, in the dark, , with mortar going off around you, people screaming with hot shrapnel in their gut, and you're fucking with a combination lock? Severely deranged.

Different rules for war zones lady...

I guess you really never were any real action other than sabotaging American torpedoes?

"Several federal laws were passed after the crash, including a law that required "immediate seizure of all airline employee credentials" after an employee's termination from an airline position.[12] A policy was also put into place stipulating that all airline flight crew were to be subject to the same security measures as passengers.[13]

The crash killed three managers and the president of Chevron USA, James R. Sylla, along with three officials of Pacific Bell, which prompted many large corporations to create or revise policies that would forbid group travel by executives on the same flight.[14]"

Whatever the reasons, the overall slowdown in health costs has led to lower 2014 insurance premiums than analysts anticipated. That means not only cheaper plans for many consumers, but significant savings for the government.

One study by the liberal Center for American Progress, for instance, found that an average individual premium for a plan with relatively high out-of-pocket expenses in the insurance marketplaces is $3,900, about 16 percent lower than the $4,700 expected. If those savings were to stick, the Affordable Care Act would cost about $190 billion less than expected over the course of a decade, the center estimated.

Mr. Levitt pointed out that “premiums are particularly important for federal costs because of the way the tax credits work.” An individual purchasing a middle-of-the-road “silver” plan, for example, is required to devote a certain fixed proportion of his income to health insurance, with the federal government picking up the rest of the tab. “The government pays the rest of the premium, so it is more exposed to changes,” he said.

On top of that, the law might be smaller in scale than originally envisioned. Pervasive problems with the HealthCare.gov site might result in fewer sign-ups than government analysts anticipated, for one. But analysts cautioned that it was too soon to tell how the problems with the website would affect enrollment in private insurance.

On the public front, the 2012 Supreme Court decision allowing states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion slashed the number of people eligible for that program. The White House has stressed that it hopes that all states join the Medicaid expansion, which would help reduce costs for state governments as the federal government picks up most of the bill for the newly covered.

But if the 25 states that have not expanded Medicaid continue to elect not to join in the expansion, federal spending would be about $45 billion lower in 2016, according to calculations by the Urban Institute and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Companies of all types can and do take advantage of the performance-pay loophole, but this study focused specifically on fast food. It's at least the second way the industry hits the federal government's budget: Low wages at the nation’s 10 largest fast-food companies -- which typically hover about a dollar above the federal minimum wage -- cost taxpayers $3.8 billion per year, because workers have to rely on government assistance to get by, according to a recent study by the National Employment Law Project.

“(Fast food companies) are a double burden on the taxpayer,” said Sarah Anderson, the author of the IPS report. “We’re trying to expose the disparity here between CEOs’ policies when it comes to worker pay versus the generous subsidies that they’re getting from their own pay.”

McDonald's and other fast-food companies have come under fire in recent months over discrepancies between how they treat executives and typical employees. Labor organizers expect . . . . . . .

Rufus IISat Nov 30, 06:13:00 PM EST“Oh, and by the way, you idiot phony motherfucker, the Marine enlistment was 3 yrs., not 4”

Up until October 2003, the Army and Navy were the only services that offered active duty enlistments for periods of less than four years.http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/joiningup/a/recruiter4_2.htm

Page 558 (1968: The Definitive Year)1966. the Marine Corps returned to three- and four-year enlistments.http://ehistory.osu.edu/vietnam/books/1968/0558.cfm

Before the Vietnam buildup, new recruits entered the Marine Corps on an enlistment of at least three years, with over four-fifths joining for four or more years.CHAPTER 27 Manpower Policies and Realitieshttp://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/books/1968/index.cfm?page=0557

THE USMC HAS HAD 4 (FOUR) YEAR ENLISTMENTS GOING BACK TO THE FIFTIES. 80% OF MARINES DID 4 (FOUR) YEAR ENLISTMENTS.

YOUR 3 (THREE) YEAR ENLISTMENT WAS THE EXCEPTION TO THE RULE! OF COURSE, YOU COULD KNOW MORE THAN MARINE HISTORIANS, BUT I DOUBT IT.

Rufus says, "whatever"? You called me an "idiot phony motherfucker" for reporting the facts, and all can say is "whatever."

The probability of one of your buddies being a 3 year enlistee is 1/5. If two of your buddies are 3 year enlistees, the odds go to 1/25. In short, with the more Marines you knew the odds against you grew exponentially. Give me a break.

Are you going to tell me your recruiter did not tell you about the 4 year usual enlistment? Give me a break.

The challenge for Republicans runs even deeper than that. They’ve been mocking the very concept behind the Obamacare exchanges. It’s a concept that made the rollout extremely difficult. The idea was that government would create an electronic “marketplace” where people could comparison-shop for health insurance. This, we were told, would keep costs down by employing market forces and competition.

This also happens to be an excellent way to describe the Republicans’ plan for Medicare. The description is still up at Rep. Paul Ryan’s website:

Beginning in 2024, for those workers born in 1959 or later, Medicare would offer them a choice of private plans competing alongside traditional fee-for-service option (sic) on a newly created Medicare Exchange (emphasis ours) … The Medicare Exchange would provide all seniors with a competitive marketplace where they could chose a plan the same way members of Congress do.

Every time the Republicans tell horror stories or make fun of the ACA’s exchange, they’re telling people that their own plan for Medicare is going to turn the most popular, cost-effective and successful health plan in the country into a tragedy – or a joke.

They’re also sabotaging their own arguments for privatizing Social Security. The plan that George W. Bush proposed in 2005 called upon the government to administer a portfolio of private investment plans on behalf of retirees. There’s still talk of reviving this GOP proposal. Rep. Paul Ryan, leading House Republican and 2012 vice-presidential candidate, continues to push a privatization scheme that even the Bush administration described as “irresponsible.”

As Obamacare goes, so goes the Social Security privatization plan.

There’s a reason why their negative characterizations of Obamacare match their own proposals so closely. As many people know, the Affordable Care Act began its life as a right-wing proposal meant to blunt the drive toward healthcare reform during the Clinton administration. Republicans loved the idea back then. They loved it when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed something similar in California. And they loved it when future presidential candidate Mitt Romney implemented it in Massachusetts.

Rufus IISat Nov 30, 07:08:00 PM EST“Oh, and one other thing, you goofy, drugged-up ass; we don't elevate one unit, or the other as being "legendary…"

FourragèreFor "fourragère", look it up and enjoy all the pretty pictures.

"The regiment's [5th] actions in France earned them the right to wear the Fourragère (seen in the outline of the unit's logo), one of only two in the Marine Corps (the other being the 6th Marine Regiment).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_Marine_Regiment_(United_States)

Gee, I forgot about Unit Citations that only members of a particular unit may wear for exceptional service: Presidential, Navy, Vietnamese Presidential, etc.http://www.thewalkingdead.org/honorscitations.html1st Battalion 9th Marines

“The last thing any Marine would do would be to use that particular language.”

The 5th Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the most highly decorated regiment in the Marine Corpshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_Marine_Regiment_(United_States)Tell it to the 5th Marines!

I will admit that “infamous” might have been a better choice than “legendary”, since there IS not much heroic about generically getting your brains blown out.

OH, AND ONE OTHER THING, HOW ABOUT THAT WHOLE GOOFY, DRUGGED-UP ASS BUSINESS? IF THAT IS TRUE, THEN, YOU ARE ONE DUMB POGUE.

Sport, if I were mainlining heroin, it would not alter the truth. You have noted that everything I claimed has been sourced. I fairly sure they are not all junkies.

Re: "silly-assed rants" Oh, this is such a pleasure. Do you mean these kinds of rants?

phony-balony, drug-addicted bitch.Pissantphony piece of shit.You are one crazy dick.bitch.lying maggotyou are a FraudJunkie. Another Rush Limbaugh.assholeasshole, allenderanged motherfuckerphony motherfuckerasinineassholeidiot phony motherfuckersad-sack maggotgoofy, drugged-up ass full of shit as the druggie.assholepop a pill, prickphony motherfuckerdipshitassholeMotherfucker!!!Dumbfuckphony sonofabitchassholeunpleasant assholenuttier'n hellwork the VA for drugs (which he could, of course, sell to allen.)lying piece of shit,

down another rabbit hole with boobie. Maybe it is an imposter posting under his name or maybe he is of failing mind, again.

If it were me I'd turn off anon posting and force the buggers hand -either it would shut him up or force him to log in. We could also, maybe, if he were logged in, watch him fall apart, again, peaceful in the knowledge that we are witnessing his true decent as opposed to wondering whether it is just another rat fantasy.

“Giving style” to one’s character - a great and rare art! It is exercised by those who see all the strengths and weaknesses of their own natures and then ... comprehend them in an artistic plan until everything appears as art and reason and even weakness delights the eye.”

“They tell us that Suicide is the greatest piece of Cowardice... That Suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in this world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person.”

Under ordinary principles of insurance, a healthy young person pays a lot less than a person nearing retirement. Under Obamacare, that’s not so. Yet President Obama’s centerpiece legislation depends upon young people’s willingness to pay these artificially inflated premiums. Another reason the young are unlikely to show up in sufficient numbers is that Obamacare gives many of them an easy out: They can stay on their parents’ insurance free of charge until they’re 26. As for the rest, with the elimination of preexisting conditions as a barrier to buying health insurance, many will choose to go without coverage until they’re sick or injured.In other words, Obama-care makes insurance more costly while simultaneously making it less necessary—especially for the young.

Then again, Rufus' other hobby horse, peak oil, also depends on suspending belief in the dynamics of the free market. It's all statics, nice and simple, oil production is finite, profits don't get re-invested in R&D.

If it were me I'd turn off anon posting and force the buggers hand -either it would shut him up or force him to log in. We could also, maybe, if he were logged in, watch him fall apart, again, peaceful in the knowledge that we are witnessing his true decent as opposed to wondering whether it is just another rat fantasy.

I second the motion. But Deuce does whatever the hell he wants with his blog, found that out.

Twice, Obama told viewers to call a 1-800 number in order to get around the broken website. Subsequent fact-checking revealed that the call center was no help at all; its operators were still required to enter the information they collected from users into a broken web portal. Of the 13 ostensible ACA beneficiaries that flanked Obama, only three had been able to sign up for private insurance through the exchanges.

So now the President is resorting to an interview with Mr. Tingle Up My Leg.

He can just sit there with old Chris and listen to how great he is, how the ACA seems to be really working, and what dicks and racists the GOP are. At least part of the last one, the dicks part, is no doubt true; however, I don't see it as especially compelling TV.

A man from Wisconsin was sentenced for participating in a DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack by hacker group Anonymous on a Kansas company.

Eric J. Rosol, 38, is said to have admitted that on Feb. 28, 2011, he took part in a denial of service attack for about a minute on a Web page of Koch Industries—Kochind.com, using software called a Low Orbit Ion Cannon Code, which was loaded on his computer.

LOIC is a popular DDoS tool used by Anonymous and other online attackers to overload websites with requests and disrupt the target server.

Rosol, who pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of accessing a protected computer, was sentenced to two years of federal probation and ordered to pay $183,000 in restitution, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

A plea agreement was earlier entered by Rosol and the government in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. The parties had agreed that the direct losses as a result of the attack on the website were less than $5,000 but Koch Industries had argued that it hired a consulting group to protect its Web sites at a cost of approximately $183,000.

Koch Industries’ owners, David and Charles Koch, were targeted by Anonymous for their alleged role in weakening the bargaining power of trade unions. The attack by Anonymous is said to have forced the Koch website offline for 15 minutes.

The company is privately held with headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, and has businesses in a number of areas including oil and manufacturing.

The use of U.S. computer laws to charge individuals for crimes that could lead to long sentences in jail has been criticized by some civil rights activists who argue that the punishment is often disproportionate to the online crime, and higher than sentences for similar crimes in the physical world.

Jeremy Hammond, 28, a member of Anonymous, was sentenced last month to 10 years in prison for hacking into the computers of a geopolitical analysis firm Strategic Forecasting, also called Stratfor, and obtaining subscriber and credit card information and emails, among other data. Hammond and supporters said he was a whistle blower, whose hacks aimed to expose government secrets, data gathering and surveillance.

As of the evening of December 2, the international network of hacktivists, Anonymous, has successfully hacked the website of Honduras’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). This came just a few hours after the tribunal announced its willingness to recount the votes and review the official electoral records of the recent presidential elections, held on November 24.

In the website, Anonymous Honduras declares “we commit the sin of giving you the benefit of the doubt, even when we are certain that your institutions are useless, and don’t serve anyone but the one that has the money and the power in this country. We can no longer tolerate this and the help of your bribed media, who want the people to stay quiet and consume the process no matter what.”

In their message, they inform of a portal where they have allegedly collected evidence of electoral fraud. They also call for peaceful protests as a way to demand freedom. They ask people to “remember they have the weapons and money, we only have our voice, indignation and our desire for freedom. If you’re abroad, protest in front of embassies. If we don’t wake up now that we can, there won’t be another possible moment.”

Update: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Soon after we published this story, at around 8 p.m. EST on Monday, the TSE regained control of its website — after only about two hours of it being hijacked. Until 11 a.m. this morning, however, the site remained “Under Construction.” “Come Back Soon,” was all it said, but it is now back live with its content available again.

Anonymous Honduras has not given up, though. As of this morning, they have managed to infiltrate parts of various government agency sites, including the Instituto de Conservación Forestal and the Instituto de Acceso a la Información Pública.

Providing assurance to an ally facing a spiraling territorial dispute with its powerful neighbor, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden strongly condemned China's decision to establish an air-defense zone over the contentious waters of the East China Sea as he warned that "the prospects of miscalculations and mistakes are too high."

Kicking off a weeklong trip to East Asia in Tokyo as Beijing's latest policy fuels the animosities between the region's two largest economies and sets off worries about the safety in...

Significant evidence exists to support the diagnoses of bipolar disorder, alcohol dependence, traumatic brain injury, and probable borderline and narcissistic personality traits. Late in life, Hemingway also developed symptoms of psychosis likely related to his underlying affective illness and superimposed alcoholism and traumatic brain injury. Hemingway utilized a variety of defense mechanisms, including self-medication with alcohol, a lifestyle of aggressive, risk-taking sportsmanship, and writing, in order to cope with the suffering caused by the complex comorbidity of his interrelated psychiatric disorders. Ultimately, Hemingway's defense mechanisms failed, overwhelmed by the burden of his complex comorbid illness, resulting in his suicide.

At the end (and before), Hemingway was one sick puppy who couldn't cope and took the easy way out.

Please don't try and muck it up with your philosophical BS.

(Besides, isn't suicide a Hemingway family pastime? Did the others lack imagination also?)

Sure, Rufus has numbers that a million people got on the website and everything is hunky dory now, but...

Bob Shlora of Alpharetta, Ga., was supposed to be a belated Obamacare success story. After weeks of trying, the 61-year-old told ABC News he fully enrolled in a new health insurance plan through the federal marketplace over the weekend, and received a Humana policy ID number to prove it. But two days later, his insurer has no record of the transaction, Shlora said, even though his account on the government website indicates that he has a plan.

North Korea is likely to escalate its cyberattacks on South Korea in the coming years in an effort to convince its southern neighbor to back off demands to limit its nuclear program, a Korea expert predicted.

After a series of cyberattacks beginning in 2008, North Korea will continue to use cyberconflict to pressure South Korea and allies the U.S. and Japan to abandon their calls for the north to commit to end its nuclear program in a "one-shot" negotiation instead of a phased-in series of deals that the countries had formerly worked on, said Steven Kim, a professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.

North Korea sees cyberconflict as a way to stir up political dissent in South Korea, to spread propaganda there and to disrupt the government, media and financial institutions in the southern half of the peninsula, Kim said during a speech at the Korea Economic Institute of America in Washington, D.C.

The communist dictatorship sees cybersecurity as a southern weakness that it can exploit, he said. While South Korea is "one of the most connected countries in the world," North Korea is one of the least connected, he said.

"North Korea has nothing to lose" through cyberattacks, he said. "Even if South Korea wants to retaliate ... there's nothing to attack."

North Korea has taken a series of provocative steps—including missile tests and a couple of military attacks on South Korean targets—since nuclear talks broke down a decade ago, Kim noted. Since then, South Korea, Japan and the U.S. have demanded that the north give up its nuclear program in exchange for some economic assistance, but do so in a comprehensive, "one-shot" agreement.

South Korea has threatened a military response if the north continues traditional military attacks, and North Korea's traditional military cannot match the power of the south and its allies, so North Korea has increasingly turned to cyberattacks to apply pressure, Kim said. South Korea, while taking steps to bolster its cyberdefense, doesn't appear to have threatened North Korea with retaliation for a series of increasingly damaging cyberattacks widely blamed on the north, Kim said.

South Korea and its allies have blamed a series of cyberattacks on North Korean hackers, dating back to 2008. In 2008, South Korea blamed its northern neighbor for hacking into about 400 computers of the presidential transition team of Lee Myung-bak, and in 2009, about 35 U.S. and South Korea websites were victims of denial-of-service attacks.

In April 2011, hackers brought down the network of a large South Korean bank using a sophisticated attack, with 30 million customers unable to use ATMs for days. Attacks on banks, broadcasters and South Korean government agencies continued into this year, Kim noted.

North Korea has been developing an offensive cyberforce since the 1990s, Kim said. Some North Korean experts believe the country has trained, with help from China and other allies, a 3,000-person cyber army, he said.

North Korea's cyberattacks will not stop until the country sees a change in policy from the other side, Kim said. "North Korea believes it has no other alternative but to up the ante, to continue to push the envelope, until the other side backs down," he said. North Korea is "trying to send a strong message: 'If you don't want your computer networks to be disrupted or destroyed ... then stop, don't apply pressure.'"

North Korea's actions have left the peninsula in a "volatile" position, with the possibility of armed conflict, he said. South Korea is concerned that the north now has the capability to do major damage through cyberattacks, he said.

"The Korean peninsula is in the front line of a new and dangerous cyberconflict that exists nowhere else in the world," Kim said.

Under Israeli military occupation, millions of Palestinians live in conditions which closely resemble the apartheid system that existed in South Africa: • No right of free speech, assembly or movement • Arrest and imprisonment without charge or trial • Torture • House searches without warrant • Assassination, extra-judicial murder • No right to vote for the Israeli government (even though it controls their lives)Israel controls all Palestinian borders, all imports and exports, and all movement between towns and cities. THE GAZA STRIP, still surrounded, besieged and controlled by Israel, has been sealed off and effectively turned into the world’s largest open-air prison.

Israel, a secular and socialist state that was built upon ...... the Three Pillars of Apartheid

The first pillar “derives from Israeli laws and policies that establish Jewish identity for purposes of law and afford a preferential legal status and material benefits to Jews over non-Jews.”

The second pillar is reflected in“Israel’s ‘grand’ policy to fragment the OPT [and] ...... ensure that Palestinians remain confined to the reserves designated for them ...... while Israeli Jews are prohibited from entering those reserves but enjoy freedom of movement...... throughout the rest of the Palestinian territory.

This policy is evidenced by Israel’s extensive appropriation of Palestinian land, which continues to shrink the territorial space available to Palestinians; the hermetic closure and isolation of the Gaza Strip from the rest of the OPT; the deliberate severing of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank;

and the appropriation and construction policies serving to carve up the West Bank ...... into an intricate and well-serviced network of connected settlements for Jewish-Israelis ...... and an archipelago of besieged and non-contiguous enclaves for Palestinians.”

When Congress forbade U.S. forces to train the internal police forces of other countries-passed in 1974 - the Israelis stepped in and "set up their intelligence network, tried and tested on the West Bank and Gaza."

Israeli noncommissioned officers were also said to have been hired by big landowners to train their private security details.

These private squads, together with "off-duty military officers formed the fearsome 'death squads' which later spread to neighboring El Salvador, where they have been responsible for an estimated 20,000-30,000 murders of left-wing dissidents."

The Guatemalan military is very conscious of that achievement, even proud of it.

In 1979, the Guatemalan interior minister paid a "secret and confidential" visit to Israel, where he met with the manufacturers of "sophisticated police equipment.In March of the following year Interior Minister Donaldo Alvarez Ruiz was in Israel to conclude an agreement for police training.

Following the overthrow of Lucas Garcia, the home of Interior Minister Alvarez was raided, "uncovering underground jail cells, stolen vehicles...[and] scores of gold graduation rings, wrenched from the fingers of police torture victims."

In 1983 that there were 300 Israeli advisers in Guatemala, working "in the security structures and in the army." Other reports were less specific as to numbers, but suggested that these Israeli advisers, "some official, others private," performed a variety of functions.Israelis "helped Guatemalan internal security agents hunt underground rebel groups."

Israeli advisers have worked with the feared G-2 police intelligence unit. overseen by the army general staff, the G-2 is the intelligence agency - sections charged with "the elimination of individuals" are stationed at every army base - which has been largely responsible for the death squad killings over the last decade.

A nation that would become complicit in genocide, not mitigated by an idea that it was required for national survival. Not because there was some sort of existential threat, but merely for cash money payments and political influence. That nation, the state of Israel, would utilize any nefarious means to advance its perceived interests.

Any nation that would sell advanced weapon systems to their enemy's primary arms supplier for cash money payments, as Israel has, puts its own and US security at risk in return for cash money payments.

For that nation, the state of Israel, to then expect the US to provide cover for its' iniquitous actions with an expenditure of US blood and treasure, that takes some chutzpah!

Free software advocate Richard Stallman has warned Bitcoin owners who believe they are untraceable that it is, in fact, easy for governments to track users, and called for a for “truly anonymous” crypto-currency to “make democracy safe”

Free software advocate Richard Stallman has warned Bitcoin owners who believe they are untraceable that it is, in fact, easy for governments to track users, and called for a for “truly anonymous” crypto-currency to “make democracy safe”.

Speaking at a Bitcoin conference in London, the founder of the GNU Project told Russia Today: “I have to point out that Bitcoin is not anonymous – that’s not part of its design.

“People don’t necessarily give their names when they do Bitcoin transactions, but the government can probably figure out who is doing the transaction. How are you going to get Bitcoins after all, unless you set up a Bitcoin money computer, which is how Bitcoins are made, you are going to get them by buying them from someone. If you are an ordinary person, the way you could do it is by paying with a credit card to a company that will exchange government currency for Bitcoins. The credit card identifies you, so when you get Bitcoins in return, the government can see who you are.”

The well-respected computer programmer, who has long campaigned for the use of free software which comes with the rights to modify, copy and distribute source code, called for a new crypto-currency to replace Bitcoin that is impossible to track.

The way Bitcoin operates means that a log of all transactions, including the sending and receiving “wallets”, or accounts, and amounts transferred are kept permanently and publicly accessible to anyone with a browser and an internet connection.

LANSING — Michigan lawmakers were warned Tuesday about the damage last-minute “issue ads” paid for by anonymous donors can do to candidates of both political stripes.

The House Elections and Ethics Committee heard testimony on a bill that would nullify an effort by Secretary of State Ruth Johnson to require disclosure of who pays for the ads, but did not take a vote on Senate Bill 661.

Pontiac Mayor Leon Jukowski, who leaves office at the end of the year after he was defeated by Deirdre Waterman on Nov. 5, told the committee unknown interests, near the end of the campaign, “probably injected more money than either of the candidates into the election.”

He said the flyers paid for by anonymous donors contained inaccurate information about his time in office.

“Politics is dirty, we all know that,” said Jukowski, a Democrat who was criticized for working closely with the state-appointed emergency manager.“At least with disclosure, you have the opportunity to put the issues in context,” he said. “If people are going to participate in our politics, we deserve to know who they are.”

An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket developed by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, blasted off on Tuesday to put the company's first commercial satellite into orbit, staking a potentially game-changing claim in a global industry worth nearly $190 billion a year.

The 22-story rocket lifted off from its seaside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 5:41 p.m. EST/2241 GMT.

‘Pro-Life? Pro-Israel?’: Israeli anti-abortion organization reaches out for US support to fight demographic war in the Jewish state

Allison Deger

An Israeli anti-abortion group is reaching out to Christian Zionists and pro-choice advocates in the United States in an effort to increase the state’s Jewish population.

American Friends of Efrat, the U.S.-based fundraising arm of Efrat (no relation to the settlement of the same name), is an Israeli anti-abortion group with hundreds of volunteers that counsel Jewish women against abortion and provide support for the first year of the child’s life.

While in the U.S. pro-life discourse focuses on morality, the American Friends of Efrat looks at abortion from a demographics perspective.

Their advertisement for the Committee to Rescue Israeli Babies (C.R.I.B.) program—Friend’s of Efrat’s only project—markets what they call an “inner aliyah,” or increasing Israel’s Jewish population not by flying in new immigrants, but by pumping up the birthrate via anti-abortion counseling and subsidies.…

I first heard of Efrat earlier this fall while covering the largest annual event in Jerusalem: a messianic Christian festival themed after the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

“This is my fourth shofar,” a teenager girl told me while dancing to ecclesiastical music and strobe lights. Aside from kitsch Judaica for sale the lobby had stacks of the Jerusalem Post’s “Christian Edition,”a glossy insert to the English language paper.

On the back cover of the December 2011 issue was a full-page advertisement with a grinning Caucasian toddler. “

God blesses those who bless Israel,” continuing, “Preventing abortions is the key to Israel’s survival as a Jewish state.”—

The message: the child is happy because he was not aborted. The plug: donate to American Friends of Efrat where Christian supporters of Israel can not only save a life, but stack the number of Jews in the holy land.The ad reads:

Israel is currently fighting a demographic war for her survival. As we go to print Israel’s borders are in jeopardy. The Arab birthright is about double the Jewish birthrate. General Uzi Dayan speaking as the Director for the Council of National security announced: ‘Demographic projections forecast an Arab majority in Israel by the year 2020 less than 15 years from now.’

Twice, Obama told viewers to call a 1-800 number in order to get around the broken website. Subsequent fact-checking revealed that the call center was no help at all; its operators were still required to enter the information they collected from users into a broken web portal. Of the 13 ostensible ACA beneficiaries that flanked Obama, only three had been able to sign up for private insurance through the exchanges.

So now the President is resorting to an interview with Mr. Tingle Up My Leg.

He can just sit there with old Chris and listen to how great he is, how the ACA seems to be really working, and what dicks and racists the GOP are. At least part of the last one, the dicks part, is no doubt true; however, I don't see it as especially compelling TV.

Definitely not a 'must watch'.

---I just waited 45 min on the phone to be told what I would pay under Obamacare:

About 40,000 abortions take place in Israel every year, about half of them legal.

Today, abortion remains rampant in Israel. Be'ad Chaim and similar groups are reaching out to help pregnant women.

In cases where the woman is granted an abortion due to the baby being conceived under illegal circumstances or incest, the fetus has a serious physical or mental defect, or the mother's health is in danger, the state pays for the abortion.

Women who get pregnant while doing their military service are entitled to free, state-financed abortion.

In practice, most requests for abortion are granted, and leniency is shown especially under the clause for emotional or psychological damage to the pregnant woman.

In addition, about half of all abortions are performed illegally in private doctors' clinics without approval from a committee. Though women who get an illegal abortion face no criminal penalties, physicians who perform them can face a fine or up to five years' imprisonment, but there have been no known prosecutions of doctors for performing illegal abortions.

Efrat is a religious organization that lobbies against abortions, as well as offering financial support for women who are considering abortion for economic reasons. Efrat's campaign includes stickers with the slogan, "Don't abort me" (Hebrew: אל תפילו אותי‎).

A third organization which provides financial support and counseling to women who consider undergoing an abortion is Just One Life (JOL) which in Hebrew is known as Nefesh Achat B'Yisrael. Maimonides codified in the Mishneh Torah that the definition of murder according to the Noahide Laws includes a person who kills "even one unborn in the womb of its mother,"

and adds that such a person is liable for the death penalty.

The killing of an embryo is also recognized as murder in the Talmud Sanhedrin 57b: "A heathen is executed..for the murder of an embryo..Because it is written, Whoso sheddeth the blood of man within [another] man, shall his blood be shed. What is a man within another man? An embryo in his mother's womb." Another explicit reference to abortion is in the Zohar, where it is likewise forbidden.

A North Miami Beach police officer who was protesting the Affordable Care Act was arrested this weekend when he refused to remove the Guy Fawkes mask he was wearing.

According to the police report, Ericson Harrell was wearing the mask, a black cape, and holding an inverted United States flag when police confronted him. He told them he was “protesting Obamacare,” but when he “was asked several times to remove his mask and produce some form of identification or tell us his name,” he refused.

He told officers that “his anonymity was his cause, thus the mask.” The Guy Fawkes mask was popularized by the hacktivist group Anonymous, but originated with David Lloyd’s homage to the purported leader of the Gunpowder Plot in Alan Moore’s 1983 comic book serial V for Vendetta.

When officers discovered he was carrying a .40 caliber pistol in his waistband, he relinquished some of his anonymity by informing them “I’m a cop, I’m a cop.”

He was ordered not to make any sudden movements, then charged with obstruction of traffic and wearing a hood or mask on a street. Florida has a statute — which originated with the state’s attempt to criminalize the Ku Klux Klan without violating the Constitutional guarantee to free assembly or ruining Halloween — that states that “[n]o person or persons over 16 years of age shall, while wearing any mask, hood, or device whereby any portion of the face is so hidden, concealed, or covered as to conceal the identity of the wearer, enter upon, or be or appear upon any lane, walk, alley, street, road, highway, or other public way in this state.”

Harrell was not taken into custody, but issued a summons to appear in court. His superior in the Plantation Police Department collected his badge and police identification on Sunday, but as of this moment his current employment status is unknown.

["Masks from the film 'V for Vendetta,' popularized by the 'Anonymous' movement" on Shutterstock]

The numbers are good if he can get 'em. And if he still has the coverage he thought he bought after logging off. 41 million uninsured, by Obama's count, and they got twenty days to get signed up, because December 23rd is the actual deadline.

Not really, Teresita. You keep posting statements about the ACA that are not in the least bit accurate. I don't want, and I'm not going, to spend the whole day correcting you; but you really should, if for no other sake than not to keep embarrassing yourself, read up a little bit about it (not from the American stinker.)

Obama gave the 41 uninsured figure, not Bobbo's website. December 23rd comes from Sibelius.

In a commentary in USA Today, Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius advised consumers to try the website in off-peak hours -- mornings and evenings on weekdays or else on weekends -- and noted the new feature for times of high demand "that allows users to opt to receive an e-mail when it's a better time to come back."

She emphasized that consumers have time to sign up, with a December 23 deadline to get coverage that starts on January 1 and a March 31 enrollment deadline to avoid a financial penalty for not having insurance in 2014.

Doug, $380.00/mo is awfully low for a 61 yr old. I don't want to get into your personal business (although, you did bring it up,) but I have serious doubts about the scope of the coverage from a premium like that - Unless, that was a Group Policy, possibly through your wife?

Btw, you're retired, right? Did those prices include the appropriate subsidies? And, those subsidies don't just apply to the Premiums, but also apply to deductibles and co-pays (if income is equal to or less than 250% of pl.)

The prices were for Medicare Part A, and I asked the lady for quotes for prices until I can get Part B plus C. She said that would be on the ACA schedule, since I currently don't have B, and I'm pushing 70.

Once I get Part B, in July, I can get C ("Akamai Advantage") for only $34 plus 114 or 128, whether they penalize me 1 or 2 years for not signing up within 6 months after my wife stopped work.

Dental will be 40 bucks a month, don't think I'll get vision, so being a Ward of the State under Medicare will be quite affordable, as long as I stay "well" until July. - and hope that my Cardiologist will keep me under Medicare.

$ 128 for A and B$ 34 for Part C$ 40 for Dental.

If I live long enough, I can rip off the system at those prices, but I ain't planning on it.

How old are you, and when did you spend your 13 months in the 'Nam?

I cheated on my time in Korea, and spent a little over a year.

Plus took a two week leave to Japan.

It helps being buddies w/HQ Company's Secretary!

He also had a locker full of Darvon and assorted other recreational Meds.

...actually, the lady was with the Insurance that we had, called HMSA. It's one of only 2 in the state, and the largest.Always paid every claim, except one.

Where I screwed up was not getting Part B soon after wife had to quit work. She said those were the rates for a 70 yr old under ACA, but since I can get B and the rest affordably in July, and I have A now if I had to go the the Hospital, I'll just go naked for 7 months til I get B, C, et-al.

If my Docs inquire what I'm doing, I'll get quotes on fee for Service for Doctor Visit.

Doug, I don't know if you're trying to blow smoke up our ass, or what, but none of any of that makes sense. If you're on the level you need to call Medicare, Now. Cause, that woman is definitely telling you a bunch of false shit. I'm 66.

My Friend, a Sargent Major, E-9, Stands with Israel. LIKES Bibi, can't stand what Obama has done to the military, roe among other things.

Whoop de do. Did he stand with Israel when they took out our SIGINT vessel in '67? Or when they whine they want us to release Pollard?

He finds your hatred of Israel, well down right UN-American.

I'm quite sure you presented to this senior enlisted a fair and balanced summary of our actual stated positions with respect to the post-war colony of Eastern European Marxist Atheists formerly known as the British Protectorate of Palestine.

The move was publicised in a statement from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, the Associated Press reported. Students will receive scholarships to "engage international audiences online" and combat anti-Semitism and calls to boycott Israel, it was alleged.

In 2012, a Palestinian-run blog reported similar arrangements between the National Union of Israeli Students and the Israeli government. Students would be paid $2,000 to post pro-Israel messages online for five hours a week.

According to Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, the most recent proposition is being spearheaded by Danny Seaman, who was slammed by the media for writing anti-Muslim messages on Facebook.

Students will be organised into units at each university, with a chief co-ordinator who receives a full scholarship, three desk co-ordinators for language, graphics and research who receive lesser scholarships and students termed “activists” who will receive a “minimal scholarship”, the Independent reported.

I'm quite sure you presented to this senior enlisted a fair and balanced summary of our actual stated positions with respect to the post-war colony of Eastern European Marxist Atheists formerly known as the British Protectorate of Palestine.

He stood with the Sec of Defense and Anwar Sadat on the Canal. He's quite aware of Israel, the real one.

“Then there are some minor points that strike me as suggestive, as clues, - for instance, the position of Mrs. Hubbard's sponge bag, the name of Mrs. Armstrong's mother, the detective methods of Mr. Hardman, the suggestion of Mr. MacQueen that Ratchett himself destroyed the charred note we found, Princess Dragomiroff's Christian name, and a grease spot on an Israeli passport.”

An Abusive Ad Hominem occurs when an attack on the character or other irrelevant personal qualities of the opposition—such as appearance—is offered as evidence against their position. Such attacks are often effective distractions ("red herrings"), because the opponents feel it necessary to defend themselves, thus being distracted from the topic of the debate.

In a 1986 study of domestic terrorism, the Department of Energy concluded: "For more than a decade, the Jewish Defense League (JDL) has been one of the most active terrorist groups in the United States. [...] Since 1968, JDL operations have killed 7 persons and wounded at least 22. Thirty-nine percent of the targets were connected with the Soviet Union; 9 percent were Palestinian; 8 percent were Lebanese; 6 percent, Egyptian; 4 percent, French, Iranian, and Iraqi; 1 percent, Polish and German; and 23 percent were not connected with any states. Sixty-two percent of all JDL actions are directed against property; 30 percent against businesses; 4 percent against academics and academic institutions; and 2 percent against religious targets." (Department of Energy, Terrorism in the United States and the Potential Threat to Nuclear Facilities, R-3351-DOE, January 1986, pp. 11–16)

Teresita Redinger I'm quite sure you presented to this senior enlisted a fair and balanced summary of our actual stated positions with respect to the post-war colony of Eastern European Marxist Atheists formerly known as the British Protectorate of Palestine.

And what is your position about your occupying the lands natives of the Americas?

And what is your position about your occupying the lands natives of the Americas?

First things first, WiO, I'd love to hear why this "true blue American" Christian E-9 stands with a state founded by Marxist atheists, and then has the temerity to call US citizens who object to these Polish and Czech colonists and their "sabra" children sucking US tax dollars to the tune of $3.5 billion a year "anti-American". It doesn't compute. There's a disconnect somewhere. Cognitive dissonance is common in mind-numbed dittoheads.

Under the Nationality Act of 1940, aliens who served honorably in the armed forces for three years or more could be naturalized as US citizens without having to meet certain normal requirements of naturalization such as lawful admission into the United States for permanent residence. The Nationality Act of 1940, however, was repealed on 27 June 1952, effective 24 December 1952 by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 USC 1101 et seq) which contains many provisions similar to those of the 1940 Act, but in the case of an alien who served honorably in the armed forces for three years requires that he shall have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence. Under this law, aliens are normally admitted for permanent residence under the quota system.

On 26 September 1961, the Immigration and Nationality Act was amended (Public Law 87-301) to grant, among other things, to veterans of the Korean Conflict the same naturalization benefits that had been granted to veterans of World War I and World War II. Under this Act, members of the armed forces who served in World War I, World War II, or the Korean Conflict (25 June 1950 to 1 July 1955) need not be lawfully admitted for permanent residence in order to qualify for naturalization provided they had been enlisted or reenlisted in the United States, Canal Zone, American Samoa, or Swains Island at any time prior thereto. Public Law 90-633, in part, ascends S USC 1440 by extending to servicemen serving during the Vietnam conflict the same naturalization benefits provided by the Act to those who served during the previous wars and armed conflict. This law waives the requirement for lawful entry into the United States for permanent residence in the United States for members who served honorably at any time from 23 February 1961, to the end of the Vietnam conflict.

The application of the term "Terrorist" by the U.S. Government has nothing to do with how that term is commonly understood, but is instead exploited solely as a means to punish those who defy U.S. dictates and reward those who advance American interests and those of its allies (especially Israel).

Thus, this Terror group is complying with U.S. demands, has been previously trained by the U.S. itself, and is perpetrating its violence on behalf of a key American client state and against a key American enemy, and -- presto -- it is no longer a "foreign Terrorist organization."

If you want to know the intended rather than literally expressed meaning of, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter," you need look no further than the story of MEK.

Mujahedin-e-Khalq, also known as MEK, is still a terrorist organization. That is to say, it both uses violence to terrorize civilian employees of the Iranian regime and appears on America's official list of foreign terror-sponsoring organizations.

But various prominent Americans are being paid big bucks to help get MEK off the official list of terror groups.

As my colleague Bob Wright puts it: If MEK had, as it claims, left its terrorist ways behind, this "delisting" of it, though geopolitically unfortunate, might be legally or morally defensible. However, within only the last few months, according to NBC News, MEK agents have murdered people by placing bombs on their cars.

The murdered people were Iranian scientists, and the assassinations were apparently orchestrated by Israel -- facts that may raise MEK in the esteem of some Americans.

Dutch digital activist discusses Anonymous in depth SpecialPeople the world over have found something to believe in with Anonymous. To a lot of people that mask is likethe Bat Signal shining over Gotham. They want to be part of it. What advice would you give those people?

A. That is absolutely true, and personally, I would say please understand yourself first, and then understand the idea and the movement, and then please join the movement and give your best qualities for the better of this world.

Honor your principles and act upon those. Remember the best of us that came before us. You do not even have to wear a mask.

Gandhi did not wear a mask, Nelson Mandela did not wear a mask, Martin Luther King didn't and also Malcolm X didn't. Julian Assange did not wear a mask, Chelsea Manning did not wear a mask. The same goes for Barrett Brown, Glenn Greenwald and many others. All of them started their own real-life 'operations" and many joined on their bus.

Honor them and support them. They have fought for you. Now we need to fight for them and honor their efforts.

Please do the things that you are good at.

Do those things with confidence, stamina, and keep your faith for a better world.

But please, do not call for a public face or some kind of leadership. This is not what the idea is about. The idea itself is our leader.

41 million uninsured, by Obama's count, and they got twenty days to get signed up, because December 23rd is the actual deadline, by Sibelius' reckoning, if they want coverage starting Jan 1, and March 31, if they don't want to pay a fine. Better giddyup. Oh, if you're young and healthy, you don't need to sign up until you're 26, and if you're over 26, you should pay the fine, because your premiums under Obamacare are going to be ridiculous, quite the opposite from under capitalism when old people pay more and young people pay less.

Although M14 prototypes were built for fully automatic fire, and any M14 could be converted to fire automatically, it was determined that the problems of recoil and barrel rise could not be overcome. As your manual states, “When the M14 is issued it is equipped to fire semiautomatically only.”GUIDE BOOK FOR MARINES, Eleventh Revised Edition, May 1, 1966. Pg 435

Allen Wed Nov 27, 03:36:00 PM ESTI served with 1/9 during this period. Look up Battle of July 2 as illustrative.

Rufus IIWed Nov 27, 04:04:00 PM EST“If you were shot up with them in '68 at Chu Lai, as you said…”

Take a look at what I wrote. Now, take a look at what you wrote.

Did I write anything about Chu Lai (150 miles south of DMZ)?

THE BATTLE OF JULY 2 WAS FOUGHT IN 1967, NOT 1968!THE BATTLE WAS FOUGHT AT THE DMZ, NOT CHU LAI!

SO, RUFUS, YOU ARE ONE YEAR LATE AND 150 MILES TOO FAR SOUTH.WHAT DO YOU KNOW? THIS ONE YOU JUST MADE UP, KNOWING THAT THESE GUYS WOULD NEVER KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. OH, DID I SAY ANYTHING ABOUT BEING “SHOT UP” AT THE BATTLE OF JULY 2?

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.